I'm an associate editor at Forbes, part of the team responsible for our signature issues: The Forbes 400, Global Billionaires and America's Richest Families. As a writer, I cover these wealthy business builders as well as other entrepreneurs. Before Forbes, I also reported on entrepreneurs for Inc. magazine, and attended Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Fiscal Cliff Update: Obama Smartly Shortens Vacation To Resume Talks

The president in Hawaii, at Pearl Harbor, four years ago. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Obama will soon renew work on a fiscal cliff resolution, cutting short the first family’s trip to Hawaii, commander in chief’s birthplace. The president may leave as early as this morning. Congress, meanwhile, is expected to file back into the nation’s capital on Thursday.

Here’s where they left off: President Obama last Friday said he wants a pared-down plan that would prevent middle class tax hikes and keep unemployment flowing for 2 million Americans by Jan. 1. “This is something within our capacity to solve. It doesn’t take that much work,” the president said in a nationally televised address.”We just have to do the right thing. So call me a hopeless optimist, but I actually still think we can get it done.”

The president’s remarks came less than 24 hours after House Republicans staged a revolt against the GOP leader, John Boehner; under his plan, taxes would increase for Americans earning more than $1 million—roughly 0.3% of the population—but that proved too much for the adamantly antitax wing of the Republican House. Earlier in the week, in efforts to try to strike a bargain, Obama relented on his stance to raise taxes on Americans making more than $250,00 and said he would agree to moving that figure to $400,000.

Considerable work awaits the pols’ return to D.C. The two parties remain considerably apart. It’s unclear whether moderate Republicans can muster support for a compromise bill, especially after Boehner failed to gain enough votes for his bill. Make no mistake: Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, have given no indication that they would stall the process. It’s House Republican that seem most likely to prevent any bill containing tax increases to pass, and Democrats have vowed to include tax hikes in any bill. (Though, you can see that the exact level where the increases begin remains fluid.)

What’s at stake? Possibly a recession in the first half of the new year, brought on by the series of tax hikes and spending cuts that will take effect next Tuesday. And how can we monitor investor sentiment? Keep your eyes on the sleep-well-at-night stocks, like Procter & Gamble, Ford and Coca-Cola. Large caps like these are bought when investors seek safety. Threat of a recession will likely trigger that. Also, monitor bellwethers like Apple and FedEx. Both serve as excellent measures of sentiment—highly trafficked shares of companies with a wide, international business.

Stock nudged higher after the opening bell. The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.2% to 13,159.37. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 1,427.62. And the Nasdaq composite increased 0.1% to 3,016.97.

Two tech stocks propped up the Nasdaq. Research in Motion jumped 6.1%. Facebook gained 0.6%.

Nearly all attention this week will center on the fiscal cliff. Precious few economic reports will come. The Case-Shiller Home Price index this morning will be released at 9. New home sales and consumer confidence figures come tomorrow; an earlier measure of consumers showed Americans have limited their spending in this crucial holiday season, weighed down by uncertainty about their paychecks next year.

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Dog and Pony show for the American people, all is well. Please stop by the both on your way out and sign up for a free credit card. American runs on debt spending and inflation, two things when I took economics that were considered bad are now purposely manipulated.

I thought OBAMA was from Kenya, Africa? Thats where his grandma said he was born, and he daddy is from.

Anyway so what, that he is coming back to sit on his hands some more. He thinks we should just Tax, Tax, Tax, so he can SPEND,SPEND,SPEND. You know when my bank acct is at -16,000,000,000,000+ dollars the bank doesn’t lend me anymore money!!!

Taxes go up anyway this year to pay for his Obama Care. We are past the Great depression, today we have social programs, like FOOD STAMPS, UNEMPLOYMENT, SSI. When the money runs out on these programs, you will really see KILLINGS! I hope the whitehouse and congress is part of that. For everyone of these guys are WORTHLESS. But OBAMA is the worst of all.

America must be weaned… Government deficit spending needs to stop (set a darn budget), wasteful government programs should be eliminated or consolidated to the point of self-sufficiency, and there hasn’t been enough taxing to sustain 3% national growth since the Clinton era not to mention the Bush era tax cuts and multiple wars just exacerbated the growing deficit. Everyone needs to be taken back a couple paces, sure everyone will be pissed off for a few years, but it’s a sacrifice that must be made. Else, as Bill mentioned earlier soft cuts will ruin this country. Joshua , Obamacare is simply a conglomerate of existing federal programs being stipulated as one, if and that’s a “BIG IF” its funded correctly it could run a surplus as compared to previous government spending, Now I’m not a “Huge” Obama supporter, because I felt the bailout was ridiculous and wall street should have felt repercussions for such reckless handling. But how do you punish one of the major drivers of the economy without causing an economic collapse?

Well I agree on tax hikes for the richer but I think they really need to help the low income families and the long term unemployed why are they always heckling over that but the welfare people get there money to me that is BS they are not working or lost there jobs of no fault of there own and here we have the welfare lazy ass people collecting because they have kids and bills what about the unemployed they have bills too DUH they just do not KEEP BREEDING to get more money. Get rid of welfare give back to the long term unemployed and also reform the welfare again someone on it gets pregnant again no more money they cannot afford the ones they have why should they be stupid have more that is BS. Cut the medicaid also kids only make the mothers go to work. I am a taxpayer and sick of supporting these lazy non working MF